So here's my deal. I ran 4:42 / 10:08 last year during my senior year of high school. My coach always limited us to less than 35 miles per week (even that was in the heat of the XC season) and had us running hard intervals or some sort of repeats every day. A recovery run was not a thing. Neither was a fartlek. Or a long run over 7 miles.
After graduation, I basically stopped running, only showing up every once in a while for a summer practice with the XC team for fun. I then moved out to around 4,500' elevation (from 400') for college. I started trying to run again in November but quickly got injured after getting in a 68 mile month, which was pathetic. In any case, I finally started running again this February after finding a group of guys (all faster than I ever was) trying to make our school team. February I went 65 miles, March 91, and I'm not having any injury issues. My average pace in training compared to past years is at least 1:30 per mile faster. That is with recovery runs (all further and faster than long runs back home were) in between hard days.
I've entered some open collegiate meets and the best I've been able to pump out (converting from 1500 and assuming an extra 100m would cost me some extra time) has been just sub-4:50.
I have a race back home at the end of May and was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to get back on track to break my PR (and hopefully 4:40). This will most likely be my last few months really trying to get faster in track. 4:40 is something I always wanted to break, but never could. At the same time, I know I'll never be a bombshell runner, so it's all about my small personal goals.